Taiwanese Boy Lin Yu Chun Sings Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” LIVE

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA-tOsM6F4Y

Maybe I’ve been hanging out with too many ladybodys in Macau, but this is pretty damn cool. Lin Yu sings Dolly Parton classic on Taiwanese talent show Super Star Avenue, giving his all for the $1 Million prize. (Parton wrote and first recorded the song, which Whitney Houston later recorded.)

Adam Guettel

Adam Guettel is the composer and lyricist for “The Light In The Piazza” – a musical, but really worthy of the title “opera”. I’ll tell you first why Piazza and Guettel interest me, and then following will be more biographical info and article links.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ikqeG4ab3Q

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Leonard Bernstein – What is Orchestration?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7HCGpRZDM

Leonard Bernstein. Young people’s concerts. What is Orchestration?. March 8, 1958

Bernstein discusses orchestration beginning with Rimsky-Korsakov live performance examples. He also plays examples of bad orchestration.

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Introduction to Orchestration

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ4E6irKQtE

Introduction to Orchestration by Thomas Goss. See my “Orchestration” category here on my blog for more music orchestration study tips.

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Holst Mercury – Example of Orchestral Sketch and Piano Reduction

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yIKu3LSwcE

Gustav Holst – The Planets Op.32 Mercury, the Winged Messenger

Here is an example of the full score and following that is a two piano reduction. I have been racking my brain in several futile attempts to find the most economical and free way to do orchestral sketches on the computer – and I think the two piano reduction idea is fantastic. It seems like a painfully obvious approach to me now – but I was very frustrated with the idea of sketching with a single piano part because it’s difficult to think in tonal colors and sections with that approach. I don’t want to spend a lot of time editing – I want to input the ideas. The 2 piano approach gives me room for counterpoint between sections – and to insinuate different textures. Orchestrally, the counterpoint happens between sections and textures rather than just notes – so Viola!

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Orchestration: Copland Appalachian Spring

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9mrXagbva8

Insight into how Aaron Copland would sketch his music before full orchestration.

Appalachian Spring rough sketch page 15 by Aaron Copland. Copland wrote his orchestra sketches at the piano at a slow pace, often at night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Copland

Aaron Copland sketches can be found here:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/copland/index.html

Appalachian Spring second sketch, a little cleaner with more notes and info on score:

Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture Part 2

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW4C2h3lPac

Compare the two conducting and performance styles for Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

Top video is concluding part two of Tchaikovsky’s famous 1812 Overture performed by the HallĂ© Orchestra, conducted by Mark Elder at the Royal Albert Hall during the Nations Favourite Prom 2004

Bottom video is the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6LY11kV444